Antidepressants double the risk of aggression and suicide in children

Children and adolescents have a doubled risk of aggression and suicide when taking one of the five most commonly prescribed antidepressants, according to findings of a study published in The BMJ today.

However, the true risk for all associated serious harms–such as deaths, aggression, akathisia and suicidal thoughts and attempts–remains unknown for children, adolescents and adults, say experts.

This is because of the poor design of clinical trials that assess these antidepressants, and the misreporting of findings in published articles.